"You've got to have a villain and they'll always make me a villain. I'm used to it - it makes me work harder and it makes me fight harder.

"Ricky Hatton never had this many fans here before - it's all part of the Mayweather experience. I'm putting him in a position to buy a lot of Guinness."

Mayweather, who is unbeaten in 38 professional encounters, added that he believes Hatton is rattled and will be made to pay for any anger in the ring.

"Have you known Ricky Hatton to be a trash-talker before?" added Mayweather.

"No? Exactly. He'll fight hard because he's mad and upset. If you fight angry, you make a lot of mistakes, and when you fight a sharp, witty fighter like me, you can't make mistakes.

"He's been down, he cuts easily, he swells and he's fighting the best in the sport. Everyone talks about Hatton's pressure - pressure, pressure, pressure, it's been the same game-plan against me since 1987."

Mayweather was also confident experienced referee Joe Cortez would not put up with any roughhouse tactics from 29-year-old Hatton, who is unbeaten in 43 bouts.

"You can't use roughhouse tactics in Las Vegas," he said.

"Over here, we have the Nevada Commission and we have a tremendous referee in Joe Cortez, and they're fair and firm.

"Boxing is an art, a science. This is smart, intelligent boxing over here in the States."